1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a method and system for populating instant messenger (IM) lists. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for populating IM lists based upon query results and user calendar data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instant messaging has become a critical communications technology for many users and organizations. Instant messaging allows a user to create a “session” with one or more other users so that messages can be sent back and forth contemporaneously. The flow of messages in an instant message session creates a dialog between the user and other users with whom the user has established a session. In this manner, quick messages can be transmitted without sending an email message or telephoning the other user. Users can choose whether and when to respond to instant messages, much like an email message. However, unlike email messages, in instant messaging, a window is displayed on the user's display showing the messages between the user and another user.
A typical use of instant messaging is the ability to engage in “off-line” discussions during a telephone conference call. For example, in a negotiations conference call between two organizations, individuals within an organization can use instant messaging to ask each other questions and make other comments about topics being discussed in the conference call without having to remember such questions and comments and discuss them after the call has completed. Being able to have such “off-line” discussions enables the conference call participants to be better informed and more efficient so that more work is accomplished during the conference call and fewer “follow-up” calls are needed to resolve negotiation issues.
One challenge in using instant messaging, however, is the user's maintenance of his or her instant messaging contacts. These lists are often referred to as “buddy lists.” While the user may have a permanent group of contacts in his buddy list, such as colleagues with whom he frequently works, adding new contacts to the buddy list can be tedious and frustrating. Using the conference call negotiation example described above, the user would have to add any users with whom he wishes to have off-line discussions before he can establish an instant messaging sessions with such users.
Another example is a consultant or other facilitator that may work with various groups of people in an organization at different times. If a consultant is working with a particular department for a period of time, the users in that department would have to be added to the consultant's buddy list before the consultant could establish sessions with the users in that department. If the department being consulted by the consultant changes often, the consultant would spend considerable time adding users to his buddy list. In addition, so that the consultant's buddy list did not become unwieldy, the consultant would have to frequently remove previous clients and users from his buddy list.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that automatically adds contacts to a user's buddy list based upon data included in the user's calendar as well as organizational data maintained in a database. What is further needed, is a way of temporarily adding contacts to the user's buddy list so that the temporarily added contacts are automatically removed when no longer needed.